First Impressions: 1984

I chose this book for an English project and so this is for school – however, it doesn’t feel like it as I’ve been planning on reading this for a while now and just got lucky to combine fun and school! Here are my first thoughts on George Orwell’s famous novel 1984!

My very first thought after reading the first chapter was: this is intense. And oh boy, it is intense. The whole dystopian world is super insane – thought control, supervision everywhere you are, a totalitarian regime with no free will, no memory and a death sentence for everyone who just thinks about not cooperating. Just reading this, I felt catapulted into a different world, different society and my stomach felt just a little off. Deep thoughts can’t be avoided when you’re reading such an extreme book.

The very difficult thing about this book is the protagonist; his name’s Winston and he’s 39. That’s the problem: I am not used to have adult protagonists, I can’t relate to their problems (that would however be the same with any age in this book as we live in a complete different world). It hasn’t been a huge deal put to this point, I’m at page 50, but I’m just anxious how it’ll develop.

Wonderful and powerful aspects were the writing and the therefore connected atmosphere George Orwell manages to create so splendidly. I immediately felt not enchanted as that wouldn’t be fitting here, but was gripped by this strong and oppressing world order expressed by words.

The plot is amazing: it’s about this totalitarian regime where the protagonist doesn’t fit in, he has memories he shoudn’t have, realizes that he is trapped, forced to live a certain lifestyle and has been told nothing but lies by the government for all his life. He begins to write a journal for the future or the past (understandable once reading!) in order to be remembered after his death and explain his living conditions. I haven’t come any further than that as it’s been much description of the daily life and world order, but I am very excited to continue!

That’s it – I hope you enjoyed my first impressions! I know I haven’t finished reading, but just in case you’ve been searching for something powerful, meaningful and moving to read, check out this book! Happy reading!